Hansard

This has been a worthwhile debate on a worthwhile committee report, and that is important given the issues at stake and the level of engagement that the committee had. We need to do right by the 600 people who responded to our questionnaire and engaged with the committee. The convener mentioned some of the difficulties that we had in defining what was good or bad work, given that most people whom we spoke to felt that they had a good job.

In the conclusions to the report, the committee came up with a number of aspects that we believe workers should be offered as standard in any good-quality employment. They were:

“regular and sufficient pay which allows for a decent standard of living ... secure employment ... safe working conditions ... working hours known and mutually agreed in advance of shifts ... a culture of mutual respect ... training opportunities and routes for advancement; and ... employee engagement in company/organisational decisions.”

I think that that is a good framework to be moving forward with. We agreed that list in the executive summary, and I welcome the cabinet secretary’s comment that she will send out a clear message on good employment practices saying that exploitative contracts and working practices are unacceptable.

Iain Gray highlighted examples of the human cost and the need for better data on the subject. As the cabinet secretary and others have pointed out, the data that we use comes from the ONS. As I recall, the same point was made in oral evidence to the committee by the STUC, which was very disparaging of the ONS data and its ability to adequately break down Scottish labour markets, notwithstanding the additional funds that Scotland pays for that breakdown. On data, Gavin Brown mentioned something that may be a little more encouraging, in that there was light at the end of the tunnel with the Scottish labour market statistics showing a slight drop in underemployment, albeit a small one, that may indicate an encouraging trend over the past year. That was an important point to make.

Paragraph 203 of the committee report states:

“We welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to the Living Wage”,

while in paragraph 204 the committee welcomes

“the new procurement guidance on the Living Wage and fair work”.

That guidance was highlighted by Richard Lyle during the debate. Gordon MacDonald spoke of it being an indication that the Scottish Government was following the high road in that regard—that came up repeatedly in the debate—but that it was hindered by the UK Government’s control of employment legislation. That differentiation was made in the report and it is important to state that, even though we are not going down party-political lines.

Mr MacDonald and others also highlighted the measures in the Scottish budget to pay home care workers the living wage. Home care workers were a subject of great interest to the inquiry, with several organisations representing the sector and its workers highlighting the rapid staff turnover in the sector, which must have an effect on patient care and which I hope the introduction of a living wage will address.

Johann Lamont highlighted a difficulty that carers experience. One witness gave very powerful written evidence on her inability to plan the care of her elderly mother, because the supermarket that she worked for was not flexible—the flexibility was all on the side of the employer. That situation, which faces far too many workers, is obviously unacceptable, and the committee hopes that the fair work convention will pay attention to it. In its conclusions, the committee said that it appreciated the joint chairs’ comment

“that the current Committee inquiry will feed into the Convention’s deliberations and outputs.”

That was very welcome.

I note that the cabinet secretary told the committee that the fair work convention is independent of Government, but that it will work with Government in a constructive manner. I am sure that the convention’s independence from Government is also an opportunity for it.

John Pentland talked about the need for better research, which the committee also called for. As regards purely practical recommendations, the committee praised the work of Oxfam Scotland as it builds its humankind index and recommended that the fair work convention should consider carefully Oxfam’s conclusions.

There has been a lot of discussion of the business pledge and of whether help should be given to companies in certain circumstances. I agree with the committee’s call for a target to be set for the number of companies that sign up to the business pledge, and I welcome the news that 200 have already done so. The committee recommends that all account managed companies be encouraged to sign up to the pledge, and I think that we could probably do more to publicise it.

I recently visited the company of DS Smith in Lockerbie in my area, which has taken on four apprentices this year and has a great apprenticeship programme planned. It pays its apprentices double the normal apprentice wage and has increased training remarkably from 100 hours to more than 1,000 hours. It is obviously paying the living wage, has no zero-hours contracts and has a great gender balance in its operation. However, when I asked whether it knew about the business pledge, it was not aware of it, even though it ticked all the boxes for it. I am now encouraging the company to sign up to the pledge. It is important that we all encourage companies that are doing a great job in promoting fair work in their communities to sign up to the pledge so that they can be held up as examples. There are many good examples out there. One way to move forward is to praise the good examples as well as to attack the bad practice, of which there are too many examples.

The cabinet secretary acknowledged the consensual aspects of the debate and said that she looks forward to the work of the fair work convention, whose framework will respond to the committee and to what has been said in today’s debate. I am sure that we all welcome that. I for one am looking forward to the publication of the convention’s framework, which will take place in the next few weeks, and I believe that we can all look forward to it with great anticipation.